Lalu’s son Tej Pratap faces his first electoral test in Mahua

Mahua (Bihar): RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s eldest son Tej Pratap Yadav, who is testing the electoral waters for the first time, is facing a tough challenge in Bihar’s Mahua assembly constituency where he is pitted against two other Yadavs.

Tej Pratap Yadav, 25, is locked in a bitter battle with Hindustani Awam Morcha’s Ravindra Ray, who won this assembly seat on a JD-U ticket in 2010 by defeating RJD’s Jageshwar Ray.

Ravindra Ray revolted against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and was suspended by the JD-U in 2014. Later he joined hands with former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.

Mahua, having over 255,029 voters, goes to polls on October 28 in the third phase of the staggered Bihar elections that end on November 5. Votes will be counted on November 8.

Jageshwar Ray was a strong contender for the RJD ticket in the party but didn’t get it as Lalu Yadav decided to field his son Tej Pratap Yadav.

Defying party diktat, Jageshwar Ray jumped into the fray on a ticket from the Pappu Yadav-led Jan Adhikar Party (JAP), making the fight triangular.

All the three major contenders are Yadavs in this Yadav dominated assembly constituency followed by Muslims. Mahua constituency is part of Hajipur parliamentary constituency where Ram Vilas Paswan has considerable clout.

Some locals are of the opinion that Tej Pratap may lose this election if the Yadav votes get split.

However, Mithilesh Singh, a professor at N.N. College, Singhara differs.

“There is a radical change in the mindset of the youth after Narendra Modi became prime minister especially due to his foreign visits. They are no longer bound to cast their vote on caste lines,” he said.

Another resident, Bablu Ray, 41, who runs a lathe machine centre at Mangu Chowk in Mahua said: “Yadavs and Muslims form the winning combination here and Lalu is focussing on it. Since all the three major contenders are Yadavs so these votes will be divided to some extent but Muslims will make the way easy for Tej Pratap.”

He added that Vinod Yadav of Dharm Jagran Manch is fighting as an independent candidate.

“He (Vinod Yadav) was seeking a BJP ticket but due to seat sharing arrangement the Mahua seat went to Manjhi’s HAM. He enjoys good support among Hindus in the area as he succeeded in closing down slaughter houses in Rasulpurmubarak village of Dabru Panchayat after a long battle,” said Bablu Ray.

Shashi Choudhry of Mukundpur described Tej Pratap as an outsider and raked up his educational qualifications issue.

“Tej Pratap is not a local candidate. He is only ninth pass and does not even speak well. How will he represent us in the assembly,” he asked.

Tej Pratap’s mother and former chief minister Rabri Devi is also camping in the area and is trying to reach out to every household to ensure her son’s electoral success.

Besides that, Dharmanirpeksha Swayamsewak Sangh (DSS), an NGO founded by Tej Pratap, is also working in the area to ensure his victory.

Mukesh Kumar, a teacher, told IANS that HAM candidate Ravindra Ray enjoys the support of the upper castes and if Jageshwar Ray succeeds in cutting the vote share of Yadavs, Ravindra Ray may well romp home.

Does Lalu Yadav portray himself as the ‘messiah’ of Muslims by aligning with fundamentalist Muslim preachers? Wikimedia

– by Gaurav Tyagi

New Delhi, September 5, 2017 : 26th July witnessed a big political drama in India, when Nitish Kumar, the C.M. of Bihar submitted his resignation.

The government in Bihar was a coalition of three political parties; Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), Lalu Yadav’s RJD and Congress.

Nitish was back in the C.M’s chair, the very next day due to the support extended to his party, JD (U) by BJP to form the government in Bihar.

The coalition of the aforesaid three parties thereby collapsed, which annoyed Lalu Yadav, the head of RJD a lot.

Lalu Yadav hijacked the plank of secularism to indulge in blatant corruption and promote his family in politics.

Secularism implies the principle of separating government institutions as well as politicians from religion and religious figures. In India the meaning of secularism has entirely been altered by politicians like Lalu, who openly woo Muslim fundamentalists from Mosques and waste government funds in order to appease them.

Lalu keeps on harping upon keeping Muslims safe in Bihar. Maintenance of law and order is the foremost task of any elected government, what’s the big deal in it?

He portrays himself as the ‘messiah’ of Muslims by aligning with fundamentalist Muslim preachers and gangsters like Shahbuddin.

Lalu never addresses the root cause of poverty and backwardness among Indian Muslims.
It is largely due to the community shunning of mainstream educational institutes and going to worthless madrasas, (Muslim religious schools) which primarily focus on students, rote learning of the Muslim holy book; Koran.

In the absence of modern knowledge, madrasa graduates are unable to improve their material prosperity and face the challenges of contemporary society.

The Ulemas or the Islamic scholars’ regressive attitude is reflected in the following statement of Maulana Samiul Haq, of the Haqqania madrasa, a prominent Deobandi madrasa; “Young minds are not for thinking. We catch them for the madrasas when they are young, and by the time they are old enough to think, they know what to think.”

Fake seculars like Lalu would never tell Muslims to study in proper schools because an educated Muslim can easily decipher the tricks played by such politicians.
A large number of illiterate or madrasa brand Muslims suit Lalu because then by showing the fear of BJP and Hindus, these Muslims can be easily turned into vote banks for his political party.

CBI, ED and other government agencies recently conducted large number of raids on Lalu and his family. They discovered Billions amassed by this so called ‘champion of oppressed’.

Lalu accumulated large number of farm-houses, land holdings, companies etc. in the name of his family comprising of his illiterate wife and 9 children; 7 daughters and 2 sons.

Both his sons, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, are school drop-outs. The former was the deputy CM of Bihar with various ministerial portfolios, while the latter was the Health Minister of the province in the coalition government.

Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav at a public event. Twitter

Lalu was declared guilty by the courts for his lead role in the Bihar fodder scam worth thousands of Crores. Lalu Yadav was jailed for 135 days in 1997 but he was lodged in a Bihar Military Police guest house with all comforts.

Before his incarceration, Lalu installed his uneducated wife Rabri Devi as the C.M. of Bihar. Lalu was jailed on various other occasions for his involvement in the aforementioned swindle.

Every time, Lalu was put in prison, he received 5 star hotel facilities and got bail easily. Lalu continued being the de facto C.M of Bihar by inducting his wife as the rubber- stamp C.M. of Bihar.

He was finally sentenced to a 5 year jail term in October 2013 by a special CBI court.
Instead of being in a jail, he is again out on bail, busy in enriching and establishing his progeny in politics.

A poster for Lalu Yadav’s political rally in Patna on Sunday, 27th August depicted one of Lalu’s foolish son as Lord Krishna while the other buffoon is shown as Arjun. Lalu’s daughter and Rajya Sabha M.P, Misa Bharti is depicted as the famous freedom fighter, Rani of Jhansi; Lakshmibai. Lalu and his wife Rabri are blessing their children in this poster.

What a mockery of historical and religious characters.

Lalu is saying that he and his family are being victimized. These utterances constitute ‘heights of shamelessness’.

Lalu indulged in blatant corruption and misuse of office for personal gains. On getting exposed he started parroting; this is a conspiracy of BJP and law would take its own course.

These terms in India mean that court cases would drag for 20-30 years. The politician will die but the court proceedings would still remain pending.
Classic example is Jayalalitha, the court cases against her were continuing since, 1996 but the final judgment was passed in 2017 after her death.

Lalu’s son, Tejashwi Prasad, the Ex-Deputy C.M of Bihar was a member of IPL cricket team, Delhi Daredevils for 4 years from 2008-2012.

During these 4 years, Tejashwi didn’t play a single game for Delhi Daredevils.

Which sporting team in the world would keep such a useless player in its squad?

Delhi Daredevils is owned by GMR group. This business house must be investigated, as to what were the compelling reasons behind continuous retention of this trash cricketer, who wasn’t competent to play even a single game during 4 seasons.

What were the financial benefits given to Tejashwi? Did the GMR group receive concessions from Lalu Yadav in exchange for keeping his son in Delhi Daredevils team? These are serious issues and need further investigations.

Misa Bharti, eldest daughter of Lalu Yadav is a Rajya Sabha M.P. She topped the MBBS examination of Patna Medical College Hospital during the late 90’s.

Misa never excelled in her classes, either at school or college. At her convocation, the presenter of the degree requested her not to treat any patients ever.

Lalu through his clout in Bihar first got her admission into MBBS and then deceptively made her a topper.

Misa Bharti after topping her MBBS studies and obtaining her medical degree did not work as a Doctor even for a single day, neither did she start her own medical practice.

This is humbug Lalu Yadav, the ‘self- styled’ protector of Muslims and ‘self- declared’ skipper of the Indian opposition political parties, comprising of so called secular forces but in reality just corrupt family controlled political dynasties.

Lalu and his political clan should be imprisoned for at least a minimum period of 10 years with provisions of no bail plus hard labor in the jail.

All undeclared properties; including land parcels, bank accounts, commercial businesses, residences etc. unearthed by the authorities during raids on Lalu and his family must be confiscated by the central government.

Lalu’s party RJD, which is nothing more than a corrupt family enterprise should be disbanded and a life ban imposed on Lalu plus his kin from pursuing political careers.

An exemplary example needs to be made of this corrupt, Lalu so, as to deter other existing as well as budding ‘Lalu Prasad Yadavs’, abounding in the Indian political system from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.

– The author is a Master Degree holder in International Tourism & Leisure Studies from Netherlands and is based in China.